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Ukip will land a second voice in Parliament next month according to a new poll that puts the party a commanding 13 points ahead of the Conservatives in the run up to the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Conservative defector Mark Reckless has rejected charges he acted in bad faith in leaving the party for Ukip.

The MP for Rochester and Strood insisted he was "trying to do the right thing by his constituents" and accused David Cameron of breaking his election promises.

Mark Reckless defected to Ukip on the eve of the Conservative Party conference. Credit: BBC/Sunday Politics

"I made a lot of promises to my constituents and I want to keep those promises on immigration, on the deficit, on political reform. The Prime Minister isn't keeping those promises, I want to do so and that's why I'm moving to Ukip," he told BBC's Sunday Politics.

"We made all these promises in 2010 as Conservatives and they have been broken."

Mark Reckless MP has said around 40 MPs had backed the motion and there were "many others" who would vote for it.

Speaking in the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he urged MPs to "reflect the interests of their constituents" in today's debate.

He said: "I think there are about 40 names on the order paper, all those Conservatives MPs have supported, signed my motion, and I know of many others who are going to vote for it and many, many more who would like to vote for it."